New Camera - Welcome to the Digital Age

Since starting this blog, I have become more enthusiastic about taking pictures. This resulted in me brushing off my 35mm camera (and getting a new body for it), and using my N95 more often for snaps. Well, this weekend saw the dawn of a new age. I finally went and got a decent digital camera. One which will (hopefully) enable me to take higher resolution digital photos, and become more creative with my pictures.
Typically, this weekend past was one of the worst weekends for running around with a new camera. It was cold, windy, and snowy.

So, about the camera. It is a Canon PowerShot A720 IS. I actually bought it without knowing quite what I was buying. I had wanted an A550 for a while, but did not even know the A720 existed. But having bought it, I am continually impressed with the features and cannot wait to get to know the camera better. Some of the features of my new camera are:

Aperture Priority
Shutter Priority
Manual Focus
Manual Flash Power Output
Panorama Mode

This isn't an impressive list of features for a DSLR. In fact you would expect them as standard. However, the A720 is a compact rather than and SLR. Having aperture and shutter priority it almost unheard of in all but the higher end of digital compacts. Certainly pricewise, this is not the most expensive, nor is it the most fully featured. But it takes excellent photos, so watch this space!

Police Seek Man After Assault on Amateur Photographer

London Transport Police are seeking the man in the above picture after he assaulted an amateur photographer on December 12th 2007. It appears that this person did not like his photo being taken:

"The photographer told him he could not delete the shot as it was not a digital camera. The man then attempted to grab the camera and punched the victim in the face. The victim suffered cuts and bruising to his face as a result of the incident."

Quite amusingly the picture that the photographer took, and that the man was so keen to get hold of, is now being used on his wanted poster. Read the full article by clicking on the photo of following the link here.

As both an amateur photographer, and one who uses 35mm film, I understand the predicament. From my point of view, if I take a photo of someone and they do not want me to have it, I can only assure them that I will honour their request, and would offer to send them the negative and photo for their piece of mind. The article does not say if the photographer had offered this option. I can only hope he did.

As an interesting aside, one of the places linking to the story is the blog Going Underground. It is an excellent blog and well worth a look. One of the questions in the comments on this article was if photography is permitted or the London Underground or not. The reason for this is that the London Underground is private property, and therefore the owners can decide on the rules, rather than the area coming under a general 'public places' rule. Anyway, John B read through all of the info and it appears that amateur photography is allowed provided flashes and tripods aren't used.

Chicago Cloud Gate - Feb 2008 (part 1)

Recently I was sent to Chicago for a whole week. I spent most of my time in an office, but I did get couple of evenings and days to myself. Naturally, I used this as an opportunity to run around Chicago with my cameras taking as many photos as possible.
At the time of writing this article, my 35mm photos haven't been processed, so I will be dealing entirely with the photos taken with my N95.

My first real photo opportunity while I was in Chicago came on Friday night (I had been there since Tuesday). I got back to my hotel, The Hotel Sax, dropped off my stuff and legged it as quickly as possible to Millennium Park to capture what was left of the sunset in the Cloud Gate.
It can be most frustrating as a photographer when you have limited amount of time (in this case it was freezing, and the light was fading), and tourists want to get in the way of your intended shot. The couple in this one stood there for what seemed like ages just as I set up for my shot.

It was a shame, because this particular angle captured a as large an area of the Chicago skyline as possible, as well as the moon (click to see the larger image and see below), and the sky behind.

I must admit, I quite like the above crop. It looks like there are two different skies being photographed. What do you think?
In the end I had to take what I could before I both lost the light and my fingers; it was bitterly cold that evening. The photo below is the stronger of the ones I took on the Friday night, showing the skyline, and the sunset reflected in the Cloud Gate.

I am toying with the idea of cropping the building on the right out of the photo as it will focus more on the Cloud Gate reflection. However, cropping my remove too much of the distance element from the 'rule of thirds'. Once again, what do you think?

This is part one of my Chicago Cloud Gate Collection. I will post the next set tomorrow.

Exciting Photos (I Hope)

I'm really excited. This weekend I finally managed to go to the weir near me to take photographs of it and the surrounding area with my 35mm camera. I am excited/nervous about the shots as I tried lengthening the exposure on some of them. I am going to put my film in for development soon and see what comes out, so watch this space! In the meantime, here is a photo of the weir taken on my N95.

  
Weir From an Old Watermill, Chesham

I really like this area of Chesham. There are a couple of lakes nearby with various birds in them. Further on from that is the Chess Valley Walk which provides some wonderful scenery. Now that I've found my tripod, I'm sure you will be seeing more from this area soon.

Mind Blowing Photographic Opportunity

 
The Cloud Gate, Chicago

One of the greatest photographic opportunities on this planet must be the Chicago Cloud Gate. It is a highly polished piece of stainless steel. Last summer I was over in Chicago on business and was able to go and see this installation on the north west corner of Millennium Park in downtown Chicago.
The thing I like about the Cloud Gate, or "Bean" (as the locals refer to it), is that no matter where you stand, there are the most amazing reflections of the sky, buildings, people, and and everything else around it.
If you are in Chicago, you would be a fool to miss the Bean out on your sight seeing.

Clicking on the photo will take you through to my Picasa album where you can see a map of where the photo was taken.

Macro Apple

Just before Christmas I sent off some old films I had lying around to be developed. You know the kind, you put it aside to get developed, but moved/forgot/etc. The picture below is from when I was testing my old Dynax 2xi body to see if the rewind motor was truly dead (which it was). Do do this I ran a film through and took a load of handheld macros just for fun.

I think this photo came out fairly well. The lighting was from a desk lamp which accounts for the orange tint to the highlights on the rind. I do own a filter to adjust for bulb light, but did not have it on at the time. Still, I think it is quite nice despite the lighting.

I think I will repeat the exercise this year, but with more preparation, and a tripod. I really quite enjoy macro photography.

Watch this space!

Happy New Year!

While watching the neighbours attempting to burn down their houses in celebration of the New Year, we attempted to write 2008 with sparklers.
The better pictures (I hope!) are in my 35mm camera, and so will have to wait. Instead this picture will have to do. Note the car.